The Reserves
by Ixidor Alucard
Summary: Toph. Sokka. Zuko. Avin. Jet. When Katara and Aang are captured, it’s up to this unlikely team to save them from the Fire Lord’s clutches. But when this band of idiots joins together, will they really be able to pull together and save their friends?
1. Chapter 1: Formation

Chapter 1: The Avatar Rescue Mission Begins!

"Katara! Aang!" Sokka yelled as the unconscious heroes were dragged away. Sokka heard a loud crash on his right, and saw Toph race alongside him, and she threw a large boulder at the soldiers. One of them bended a large blast of fire, slowing the boulder down, and it landed at their feet. The platoon of soldiers ran onto the deck of the boat, and Toph stopped as the ship set sail.

Sokka, however, kept running, and leaped onto the deck. He threw his boomerang, knocking out a guard, and a soldier crept up behind him, and prepared to attack…

Suddenly, a boy leaped onto the deck, and knocked out the enemy behind Sokka.

"Jet?!" Sokka yelled shocked, as he kicked another soldier aside, "What are you doing here?"

"Look out!" Jet said, jumping over Sokka and taking out an enemy with his hook swords.

"Aang! Katara!" Sokka yelled, as he looked around, and saw his friends being taken below deck.

"Sokka, we'll never make it," Jet said, as the two were surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, "We've got to get out of here while we still can,"

"No way," Sokka replied, "We have to-"

"It's not up for discussion," Jet said, as he grabbed Sokka, and slid towards a firebender, knocking him down with a hook sword. He pulled Sokka along and threw them both overboard.

"Sir, shall we attack?" A soldier asked the captain of the ship.

"No," the captain said, "We've got our cargo. Let's set the fastest course for the Fire Nation."

"Yes, sir."

As the ship sailed away, Jet and Sokka swam back to shore. They lay on the beach for a few minutes, coughing and sputtering, as Sokka asked in between breaths, "What…is…wrong with you?!"

"What?" Jet asked, "I just saved you back there."

"Katara and Aang-"

"Sokka, come on," Jet said, getting up and putting his hook swords away, "You know we were outnumbered back there. If we want to rescue Katara and Aang we're going to have to pull back and find another way." Jet smiled. "I already have a plan in mind…"

"Hey, Sokka! And that guy who Katara used to like. Wow. Didn't expect to see you here," Toph said, running up to the two.

"Awesome, it's Toph," Jet said, nodding to the blind earthbender, "It's good to see you again, but we don't have a lot of time. We've got to rescue Katara and Aang."

"Really?" Toph asked sarcastically, helping Sokka up out of the sand, "Well, what did you have in mind?"

"Who do you guys know who would help us? And remember, whoever you think of has to be someone we can get to fast."

"Well, we left Zuko back at the campsite," Toph said, pointing in the direction of where Aang's firebending teacher was, "So he'll definitely help us."

"Okay," Jet said, "We should be enough to rescue them."

After enlisting Zuko's help ("What?! You just let them get captured?" "Shut up, and help us pack") and packing up the campsite, the group started their march to where Katara and Aang had been captured.

They walked onto the wrecked pier, and Zuko turned to ask Jet, "What are we doing here?"

"I'm trying to think of the best plan of action," Jet replied, putting a hand over his chin, "If they left from here…" Jet's head snapped up as he heard a noise, and saw a young boy with black hair at the end of the pier.

"Hey, you!" Jet shouted, running towards him, hook swords in hand.

The boy turned, and got into a fighting stance, "What?" he asked sharply, as Jet stopped a few feet from him.

"Hey, it's Avin!" Sokka said, grabbing Jet, "He's a friend of ours. It's okay."

"What are you doing here, Airhead?" Toph asked, running to her friend and slapping him on the shoulder.

"You sure know how to give a guy a nice welcome, Toph," Avin smiled, rubbing his arm, "But I've actually…" he looked down sheepishly and shuffled his feet, "I've actually been following you guys around for a while now, so I knew you'd need some help getting Aang and Katara back."

"Well, welcome aboard, Avin," Jet said, "Now come on, we've got to get going."

"Hey, wait a second, Jet," Toph said, as Jet turned to face her, "Who died and made you leader of this mission?"

"Yeah," Sokka said, "I've known Katara and Aang longest, and come up with the best ideas, so I should be the leader."

"Well, I'm Aang's best friend, and dealt with the Fire Nation a lot of times," Avin said quietly, "So I think I should lead."

"Well, I've had more experience with the Fire Nation than anyone," Zuko said, "And I'm good at tracking, so I should be the leader."

"You're all crazy," Jet said, "I'm the only one qualified to be leader of this rescue. I've been leader of the Freedom Fighters as long as I can remember, and I've fought the Fire Nation before."

"If you're such a great leader, where are your Freedom Fighters now?" Sokka asked.

"I left them so I could come help you guys!" Jet said.

"Will all of you be quiet?!" Toph shouted, and the four fell silent.

"Listen," Toph said, clutching her forehead, "Since I'm obviously not going to hear the end of this if any of you becomes leader, I'm putting myself in charge. If any of you have a problem with that you can tell it to my rock-themed friends," she said, lifting up two large boulders, "Got it?"

"…So Toph's leader. Agreed?" Jet asked.

Everyone nodded, and the blind earthbender looked around at the group.

"Right, so…anyone have any ideas?"

"Well, they got away by ship," Sokka said, "So we're going to have to follow them by ship. We'll have to make one."

"Really? So, um, tell us, genius," Avin muttered, "Where do you plan on getting all the stuff we'd need to build a ship? Robbery?"

"No, listen, we can just…" Sokka trailed off, unsure.

"That's the last time we ask Sokka for ideas," Jet exclaimed, slapping a hand to his forehead, "Let's just go on Appa."

"That's no good," Zuko said, "We'll get shot down if we approach from the air. And Aang's the only one who really knows how to fly Appa anyway."

"Great," Jet muttered, "Guess we're going with Sokka's plan after all."

"If we have to kill people to get the ship, can I be the one who kills them?" Avin asked.

"What the…? No, you freaking psychopath. We're going to buy the ship using my money," Jet said.

Avin crossed his arms and muttered to himself, "Not like you didn't kill an old man or something for that money anyway."

"What was that?" Jet asked, taking out his hook swords.

"Guys, just shut up and let's get going." Toph said, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Hey, you guys…" Zuko pointed over to a mob of Fire Nation soldiers, running at the group.

"You kids! Stop right there!" The leader of the Fire Nations soldiers shouted.

"Yeah, uh, no," Zuko said, running towards the village.

"We've got to get away from here," Toph said, launching a large boulder at their pursuers, "Come on!"

Avin, Jet, and Sokka followed Toph and Zuko through the Earth Kingdom village, and Avin shouted, "Hey, wait, why don't we just fight them?"

"We don't have time," Jet said, as he dodged a few flames from the Fire Nation soldiers, "We have to get to Katara and Aang before they reach the Fire Nation."

Jet swung one of his hook swords around a cart, and used the momentum to send the cart flying at the Fire Nation platoon chasing them.

"Fire Nation warships like that are pretty slow," Zuko exclaimed as he pushed past a villager, "So we have time to get a ship, but it's got to be a fast one."

"Any ideas?" Sokka asked, throwing his boomerang at one of their pursuers.

As they reached the outskirts of the village, Avin snapped his fingers. "I bet we can steal one at the docks, but we'll have to do it at night."

"Really?" Toph asked, "Why night?"

"The night guards are lazy and usually sleep," Avin shouted, "So, getting past them should be easy for us."

"I suppose," Jet muttered, "We should do that, but do we have time?"

Toph looked at Zuko, as the rest of the group began to slow down. Zuko nodded, and Toph exclaimed, "Okay, we're going with that. Look, there's a cave up ahead, let's hide there."

The five ran into the cave, and Sokka, Avin, and Jet fell to the ground, tired.

"Man…" Avin panted.

"Wimps," Toph muttered, and Zuko made a fire for warmth.

"No, fool," Avin said, running to the fire and blowing it out, "Don't you think people will notice that? We have to stay hidden."

"Good point," Jet said.

"All we can do is just wait for nightfall. It's cold, sure, but a few hours won't kill us." Sokka said.

Everyone fell silent, and the wind whistled. Sokka looked over at Jet, and asked, "So where did you come from, back there?"

"I was following you guys too," Jet said, "I felt bad about what's happened, and was hoping to make it right by joining up with you guys. I didn't anticipate this, obviously."

"Seriously?" Avin asked, "How many people were following Aang and the others, I wonder?"

"It was probably just you and me," Jet said, "Really, anyone else following them around would have revealed themselves by now, I would think."

"You would, but…" Avin said, rubbing his chin curiously.

"We don't have time for that now!" Zuko shouted, "Shouldn't we, you know, go steal- er, borrow that boat now?" He pointed out towards the mouth of the cave, as the sun began to set over the horizon.

"Good point," Avin and Jet declared simultaneously, getting up and looking at each other oddly.

"…anyway," Avin went on, as Jet scratched his head, "Let's go, with luck we'll have Aang and Katara rescued by this time tomorrow."

As Zuko and Sokka started arguing about who would sail the ship, Toph slapped a hand to her forehead.

_You can just tell when it isn't going to go well…_


	2. Chapter 2: Pursuit and Naval Battles

"I like this ship," Sokka looked over the side of it and read the words engraved on it, "The _Catalyst._ What a cool name."

"All right," Jet muttered, "Let's check one more time. Weapons?"

"Check," Sokka answered, sifting through the hook swords and boomerangs.

"Ship?"

"Gee, I wonder…" Zuko muttered quietly, as he adjusted the rudder.

"Leader?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Toph replied, waving a hand.

"You know, it would be nice if you all weren't so sarcastic," Jet exclaimed.

"It would be nice if you would stop thinking you were the leader of this group as well, but that's obviously not happening either," Avin shouted from up on the crow's nest.

"And psychopath, check," Jet said, sitting down on the deck, and putting a piece of straw in his mouth, "Okay, we're good. Any sign of them yet?"

"Nope!" Avin exclaimed, putting his hands behind his head, "And I gotta say, this is a very boring job, lookout. You said Toph would be impressed by this but I'm not seeing the part of this that would impress her."

"Just keep looking," Sokka shouted up to the young airbender, as Toph looked away, freaked out. Sokka looked over to Zuko and asked, "You sure this is the right way? We haven't seen another ship for miles around."

"Positive," Zuko replied, "The fact that we see no other ships is a good sign. It means we're reaching neutral waters, where no ship wants to go."

"Why do no ships want to go there?" Toph asked, as she heaved over the side of the ship again.

"Because in this part of the waters you can get fired at from any one of a bunch of naval fleets, be they Fire Nation or Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom…" Zuko trailed off, as his eyes widened.

"Get us out of here!" Sokka shouted, as Zuko swung the rudder around, "Jet, get to the arrows. Toph, see if you there's some metal you can rip off the boat without sinking it. We're going to need firepower and lots of it. And not YOUR kind, either," Sokka said, as Zuko looked up hopefully, and sat back down, dejected. "Avin, what do you see? What do you know?"

"Well, captain," Avin rolled his eyes, and pointed towards the west, "We got Fire Nation ships, approaching fast." Then he pointed to the east, and said, "We got some Earth Kingdom coming at us as well, and" Avin looked to the north, "Yep, we got Water Tribe longboats closing in."

"Why didn't you tell us this before??" Sokka asked, as Toph grunted, ripping a sheet of metal from the deck and crushing it into a ball.

"I was listening to you rant," Avin muttered.

"Okay, we've got to get out of here!" Jet yelled, as the small crew prepared for battle.

Avin jumped down from the crow's nest and went to Toph. "Hey, boss?"

"Yeah?" Toph said, as she ripped another block of metal from the ship.

"I was thinking…since we've still got Aang's glider, along with most of his stuff…"

"You can use it to take the fight to them!" Sokka shouted, grabbing the glider and tossing it to Avin.

"We're having a battle?! I just wanted to play with the glider!"

Everyone slapped a hand to their foreheads and shook their heads.

"Avin, just get going!" Jet shouted, and the airbender nodded and took off towards the Fire Nation ship closest to them.

"He might hold off that boat but it's up to us to take the others," Jet said.

A _BOOM! _was heard, and a large ball of flaming garbage flew at the small ship.

"WHOO!" Avin shouted as he barreled through the projectile, and flew over the heads of his teammates, "Don't worry, guys, I saw Aang do this once. If anyone fires anything at us, I'll take care of it."

"Thanks," Jet waved as Avin flew towards another approaching ball of garbage.

"Toph, start firing off metal," Sokka said, turning Toph in the general direction of the Fire Nation ships, "Go crazy."

"Sweet!" Toph shouted as she started swinging blocks of metal at the boats. Most of her attacks missed, as the metal sank to the bottom of the ocean.

"Uh, Sokka," Jet said, grabbing Toph and turning her more precisely towards a Fire Nation boat, "How about being a bit more specific?"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Avin shouted as he flew over them again, "I bet those Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom boats will help us, right?"

No sooner had Avin said this when the Earth Kingdom ships started firing at the _Catalyst. _The Water Tribe longboats soon followed suit.

"What the..?! Hey, we're on your side!" Sokka jumped and waved at the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe warriors, who kept firing.

"Guys, this isn't good," Zuko explained, "Both sides think we're the enemy, and are firing at us. What's more, this boat isn't built for heavy combat, and we're taking a lot of hits as it is."

"Meaning?" Toph asked, shooting a disc of metal through a warship.

"Meaning we don't have a lot of time before we're treading water!" Zuko shouted.

Avin dropped down to the deck, tired.

"You reek!" Toph shouted, as Avin made a face.

"Well, you try deflecting those trash balls and smell good afterwards," Avin replied, "Anyways, I'm beat. I won't be able to keep those things off." The airbender turned to Sokka, and went on, "If ever you were to hatch a brilliant plan, now would be the time."

"I think I have something," Sokka said, pointing to Zuko, "Steer us towards the Fire Nation ships."

"What? Are you insane?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry, this will work," Sokka yelled, as Zuko swung the rudder around, and the little boat sailed through into the heart of the Fire Nation warships.

"All right, Avin, Jet, cover the left side of the boat. Toph, with me. We'll cover the right." Sokka ran to the side of the boat and started throwing boomerangs at the guards who had run to the side of their boat as well. Toph shot metal at the guards, stopping them from taking Sokka out.

Meanwhile, Avin sent waves of air at the guards, while Jet covered him, shooting arrows at the guards Avin missed.

It seemed to go on forever, as the four just tried to avoid the onslaught coming from all sides.

"We're through," Zuko said, as the _Catalyst_ sailed past the Fire Nation ships, "Now what? They're just going to come and follow us anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Sokka grinned, "They're going to have their hands full."

The rest of the group turned back and watched the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom platoons engage the Fire Nation navy, as a great battle began.

"Way to go, Sokka," Jet exclaimed, "Now we've got to hurry. Aang and Katara shouldn't be too far off."

"Not at all," Avin said, showing the group a messenger hawk, "Took it off one of the Fire Nation ships. Now we can send a letter to your dad, Sokka. We could use the backup."

"Good idea!" Sokka said, as he grabbed a piece of paper and started to write, "He shouldn't be too far from here, he can meet us right when we're about to catch up to Aang and Katara."

"He was probably one of the guys shooting at us, too," Jet added, but saw Sokka's face and decided not to say anymore.

"Now," Avin muttered, "If you'll excuse me, I want to go shower. I smell really bad." And with that, the airbender threw himself overboard and started swimming alongside the boat.


End file.
